As expected, TikTok has sued Montana over the statewide ban on the app. The company has filed a lawsuit against the state Attorney General Austin Knudsen challenging the new law, SB 419, passed by Governor Greg Gianforte last week. TikTok creators have also sued the state over the ban.
Filed in the United States District Court of Montana, TikTok’s lawsuit against the Montana law follows a similar tone as the lawsuit from TikTok creators. “Montana’s ban abridges freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment, violates the U.S. Constitution in multiple other respects, and is preempted by federal law,” the formal complaint states.
“We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana. We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts,” TikTok’s Communications Team said in a tweet shortly after the company filed the lawsuit.
It is worth noting that the TikTok ban in Montana isn’t effective straightaway. Unless overturned or delayed by these legal hurdles, it would come into effect on January 1, 2024. Following this date, TikTok or its Chinese owner Bytedance isn’t allowed to operate the social media app within the territorial jurisdiction of Montana. App stores also must remove the app or block downloading for Montana citizens. The state lawmakers have privacy and security concerns with the app.
Most Americans don’t support the TikTok ban
It comes as no surprise that TikTok creators and the company have challenged the statewide ban on the app in Montana. However, it seems most US citizens don’t support the ban either. A recent survey showed that only 18 percent of Americans have no objection if their government decides to block access to TikTok across the country. The rest of them (almost four out of every five Americans) oppose the idea. They suggested that an outright ban would be an act of authoritarianism.
Most Americans aren’t afraid of Chinese spying and don’t care if the Chinese government has access to their data. Almost half of TikTok users in the US would prefer being spied on rather than lose access to the app. Some said they would vote against their governor if their state banned the Chinese social media platform. Comments under the aforementioned tweet from TikTok’s Communications Team are also mostly supportive of the lawsuit. So the company certainly has the backing of its American users. It remains to be seen what the court decides.